Interest in automating business processes using computer software is growing rapidly. Computer software known as "workflow" software allows business processes to be defined as a series of sequential and parallel tasks, where each task describes the work to be done and defines the people or roles assigned to the task. Workflow software automates business processes by routing tasks to assigned users. When a task is started, the user assigned to complete that task is notified. When that user indicates the task is done, the next task is started, and so on.
Similarly, interest in automating the management of electronic documents and data produced by individual employees is also increasing. Computer software known as Product Data Management (PDM) software allows businesses to define specific types of employee work deliverables, such as requirements, specifications, engineering designs, and change requests. Businesses may store and retrieve electronically the data and files that make up each deliverable. Users can store, retrieve, or check out (modify) work deliverables. Related data are stored in an underlying database. Electronic files are stored in an underlying file storage system. Changes to deliverables are preserved and can be tracked across time. Relationships between deliverables are stored and tracked. Read, write, and delete access to stored information is controlled. Some PDM products also control: read, write, and delete access to each deliverable; the current state of each deliverable; display of custom data entry form for each type of work deliverable; and configurations of deliverables such as assemblies and their subcomponents.
A combination of workflow software and PDM software, henceforth called Work Management (WM) software, would allow businesses to automate business processes and simultaneously manage the employee-produced deliverables associated with those processes.
Despite promising benefits, known WM software products generally have key limitations that prevent their successful adoption on a broad scale. These limitations include: insufficient ease of use, so that for most individual end users the additional work required to use the system is greater than the perceived benefits; insufficient tailorability, so that defining and modifying process and deliverable definitions to reflect evolving business practices is difficult and requires special skills; and insufficient flexibility to handle normal, employee-driven, process variations in connection with structured, company-driven processes.
Known WM software is difficult to use because task definitions usually do not specify the specific fields and attachments that the user needs to see, can fill in, and must fill in to complete the task. Rather, when a deliverable is displayed, all fields and attachments are generally visible and editable, regardless of where the deliverable is in the overall process in much the same way that a person, presented with a printed form, is given no direction as to which information is required to be entered. For this reason, users must be trained to properly execute deliverables based on the implemented process. Users may be overwhelmed by unnecessary information and are not prevented from filling in or changing the wrong fields or attachments.
Known WM software is difficult to tailor, and therefore lacks flexibility, in dynamic business environments because it generally supports only structured, pre-defined work processes. Put another way, in cases where WM Software supports ad-hoc tailoring, the user is required to create a new process definition that is only a variation of the initial process definition. End users cannot add, modify or delete tasks in an ongoing process to account for normal process variations and staffing considerations. Because most business processes are dynamic and often have a significant ad hoc component, the set of supported applications is severely limited.
These limitations arise because, in known WM software, process steps are separated from the deliverable that those steps create. Thus, users must take duplicate steps to create a deliverable and then indicate that it is done. Similarly, in order to change the requirements for a deliverable, the process underlying the deliverable must be changed, as well as the deliverable itself. Thus, the user must remember to make two changes instead of simply one. Further, some WM software requires different users to change the deliverable and the process underlying the deliverable. Thus, for known WM software, addition of significant ad hoc components generally results in numerous errors, including process steps which no longer match the requirements of delivering the products they underlie.